Anyone have a Cobb's TM?

[Mikey P]

Dont hear a whole lot about them..

Looks like a heck of a deal.

http://www.cobbcarpet.com/features.html

Kinda ugly though.

How many have you made/sold Larry?

And why not a little paint to perty her up?

 

[Guest]

I bought a new DC310 about 2 years ago. I kept it for about a year as a second unit but sold it to someone in Texas.....

 

[steve frasier]

Terry beat me to it

Larry gave him most of his money back I believe

Ken bitched about the machine and the way he was treated by Larry but I never read retraction/post when Larry gave him most of his money back

I bought from Larry and wasn't happy with the treatment after the product broke, he refunded my money and paid all the shipping but I won't buy from him again but it sounds like many do and are happy with him

I never was burned by Ken but sounds like others were

 

[Larry Cobb]

Mikey;

We manufacture about 70 TM's per year @ our plant here in Texas. That allows for more competitive pricing.

We believe in our "open access" design to acheive lower operating temperatures. We also try to "engineer out" any troublesome shut-down controls and switches.

Ken generously applied an encap with a fluorochemical as a preconditioning step and we believe the excess fluorochemical built up in his blower. That caused overheating in the blower, and eventually led to the premature blower failure. Ken disagreed & refused to talk to us over the phone, in spite of our efforts. We agreed to buy the TM back.

We are proud of our TM service record with customers. Feel free to ask other TM owners for their opinions.

Larry Cobb

 

[hogjowl]

Not hearing much about a particular manufacturer doesn't necessarily mean his equipment isn't much good any more than hearing a lot about another means his stuff is great. I can think of one or two BB favorites who make garbage, but you'd never know it by reading what's posted by a few.

Larry seems to make a simple unit ... so how screwed up can it be? Not much space saving in the design, and yes it IS ugly, but if I were in his area, I'd probably give it a look.

Unless, I had the balls to spend big money on a Butler Grand, or an Aerotec.

Which, so far, I haven't had ...

 

[Ed Hartman]

Hey, Cobb bought it back, atleast he didn't skip town to Canada.

 

[alazo1]

Never dealt with Larry but have read many positive posts.

Larry, does the machine dump water to the waste tank or does it have a diverter?.

Albert

 

[Larry Cobb]

Albert;

We don't like the temperature delay lag you get with diverters. We use the blower exhaust to limit the temperature rise @ ~240°.

Our all stainless heat exchanger has a lot of water mass so it stores the heat energy pretty effectively.

No water is dumped at all. For flood work the heat exchanger is bypassed completely.

Larry Cobb

 

[Mikey P]

Now this is waht I had in mind for this board.


Thanks Larry.




Want to bring one to WF3?

 

[Alex]

I own a DC410. runs as advertised. No issues. Sevice from Cobbs always meets or exceeds my expectations.

 

[Greenie]

Larry could do with a better numbering system, the 410 stuff doesn't tell you much about the machine.

If someone says he has an EZ2545 you aren't wondering what he has, you already have a rough idea. Even ACE went to that type of system.

So Larry, you said the blower exhaust keeps the temps below 240º becuase it's mixing with the engine exhaust in the exchanger, is this correct?
Any bypass at all, or just relying on the blower to "cool" things off a bit?

 

[Larry Cobb]

Greenie;

No water bypass at all.

We regulate temperature with a combination of blower exhaust (about 240°) and the speed of the engine.

Our operating RPM varies with the GPM output needed.

The DC2045 is a 20 HP Kohler with a #4MR blower.

The DC310 is a ~24 HP Honda Kohler with a #4MR Blower.

The DC534 is a 34 HP Kohler Command with a #4MR Blower.

The DC538 is a 38 HP Kohler command with a #5MR Blower.

Larry Cobb

 

[alazo1]

Which is your best seller Larry?.

Albert

 

[Jay D]

Larry
Not that I know anything and No offense, but the pipe headin in and out of your blowers is too small at 2". Would'nt it be better to run 2.5 in and out of a 45 and 3"in and out of a 47 to increase airflow? Just curious. Lift can still be maintained with better ORiFices. Speaking of which I better shut my piehole. :roll:

Jay DeLaughter

 

[Jimbo]

So much for encapping prespray! I guess it would be great if we do not mind ruining our Blowers.- Jim

 

[Larry Cobb]

Jay;

Think about all the air flow restrictions in the vacuum system.

2" fittings are the least of the problem restrictions.

These are the most important in order of importance when actually cleaning:

1. Carpet-Wand Interface -most restriction
2. Long 2" Hoses - substantial
3. Silencers - substantial to moderate
Depends on design path and corrosion effects
4. Heat Exchanger - moderate in good designs, high in average designs
5. Vac Tank & filter - moderate to slight with no baffles
6. Plumbing Fittings- slight

We are working with a new AirFlow meter to check the actual effects of these restrictions.

It's all about R & D.

Larry Cobb

Jim- Regular encap will not cause any residue. It's the additional fluorochemical protector that is heat-resistant inside the blower.

 

[Samson]

DC 510 Owner

I bought my DC 510 back in February and it now has about 120 hours on it.(still only working part time cleaning carpets) Nothing major has gone wrong yet. It took a while to figure out how to use it and get it up to opertating temperatures without overheating the water pump(a wand bypass valvue has helped a ton and is a neccessity in my opinion). But that was due to the fact that I was brand new to CC and never used a TM before. It has great vacuum(had a Kunkle installed new at Greenie and Lisa's suggestion) and I love how simple it is. For the money, I think the package has great value when compared to other TMs.

Here'smy wish list for items that would make it better:

1) Wand By-Pass valvue that comes standard on the wand(Larry sent me one at no-charge after discussing options for keeping the pump cool)
2) A hand adjustable water pressure valve
3) Get rid of the Stiff Gray vac hose and include the blue flexible hose that Greenie sells - there is no comparison, the blue hose is MUCH better to work wtih.

Samson

 

[JohnnyV]

I say you gotta get to 240deg before worrying about having to regulate it...Lets see, EZ started making it the standard designation with 2547, 2747,3156.....I know another company, not the Dynachem, that started using the engine-blower sizes to designate the machine.

 

[joey895]

What is a wand bypass valve? Will that help keep the machine from gettting so hot it shuts down when you set the wand down for too long? If so can someone post a picture of one and where to get it. Thanks

 

[Greenie]

Samson, If you liked the blue hose(pro-flex), you will like the new stuff a little better(super-flex), very similar, we jsut exchanged some durability for flexibility, it's good stuff.

I'll try and get some of our Dist. to carry it, as most of the other hose on the market sucks for a lead hose.

The only question I ahve about reduced plumbing on blowers is What do the Blower Mfgs, say about it?

 

[Samson]

Wand by-pass valve

Joey - that's exeactly what it does. You simply turn the ball valve when you need to put the wand down to do something else and the hot water is allowed to continue to flow to the waste tank and NOT overheat the pump. It is a simple solution that has removed a big headache I was getting everytime I cleaned.

I will try to take a picture of mine and post it. You have to get the parts and have a small collar welded to your wand, but it was not hard to install.

Samson

 

[Samson]

Wand By-Pass picture

Hopefully this will work:

Samson

 

[Dolly Llama]

"It took a while to figure out how to use it and get it up to opertating temperatures without overheating the water pump(a wand bypass valvue has helped a ton and is a neccessity in my opinion). But that was due to the fact that I was brand new to CC and never used a TM before.

...........................................................................................

Sam, inexperience has nothing to do with a machine over heating.

To use a by-pass on the wand,
instead of designed into the machine, is a flaw IMHO.

You shouldn't have to depend on an operator,
or worse yet, a 20 year old new hire to regulate the temp manually.


..L.T.A.

 

[Ricky Thurman]

Isn't it the bypass built into many of ProChem's machines that everyone hates so much. I hear a lot of complaints about filling the waste tank too fast. I've never noticed it being a problem, but I'm sure there are other solutions to overheating than a bybass valve of any kind (whether engeered on the machine or added to the wand. I just bought a Bluewave and does not have a bypass valve(although I don't really know what they did to keep it from overheating.)

 

[Mikey P]

I have had 10 Hydromasters CDSs, three Prochems, a Butler and now the V.

None had a heat bypass.


What TM makers still use that "trick" and why?????????


I agree with meAt.

 

[Samson]

meAT

I chose the DC510 specifically because it was Simple and didn't have a bunch of complex systems in it that could break down. I wanted a basic machine that I could work on and understand with only a little experience. I feel like that is exactly what I got. No regrets.

I have no problem with the manual by-pass valve since I am an owner/operator and understand how/when to use it. I do think it needs to be included in the package though. If I had techs running the machine I would be a little more leary about them overheating it.

Samson

 

[Larry Cobb]

Mike & Meat;

The heat he was concerned about, was not HX temperature.

without overheating the water pump

Our TM's pump only cold water thru the pressure pump.

He was concerned about not operating the wand for a period of time, and the recirculating water in the pump overheating.

Larry Cobb

 

[Mikey P]

How and why would that be a concern if it's not possible?

 

[Greenie]

To use a by-pass on the wand,
instead of designed into the machine, is a flaw IMHO.

It's 1970's technology.

The million dollar question is: Why doesn't the bluewave pump overheat?

Why more guys don't use an oversized float/mixtank and a simple HX bypass back to the mix tank, I will never know. In fact small TM manufacturers are dynamic enough to make the change tomorrow.
A secondary benefit is a higher more sustained net heat increase in solution temps at the wand.

010 flow will put the hurt on a marginal HX system.

Adding John's Custom mixtank was the best thing I ever did for our old slide in, and it was as simple as they come.

 

[Jimmy L]

Larry are those TM's assembled in mexico and shipped up to Texas?